Hate Crimes bill passes in the House

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also known as the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a 249 to 175 vote. A total of 231 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation with 17 voting against, while 18 Republicans voted for the legislation with 158 voting against, according to Stonewall Democrats.

Just so you know, there was a lot of ignorance being spewed during the debate. One member of Congress said that the people who killed Mathew Shepard didn’t kill him because he was gay, but were just trying to rob him, and that the hate crimes bill is a “hoax.”

This description comes from HRC:

During debate on hate crimes legislation taking place today on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) claimed that Matthew Shepard’s death was â€œa hoax.â€ While Matthewâ€™s mother, Judy Shepard looked on from the House gallery, Foxx, who managed the floor for those opposed to the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, spoke saying, â€œthe hate crimes bill thatâ€™s called the Matthew Shepard Bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasnâ€™t because he was gay. This â€“ the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but itâ€™s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.â€siteреклама в интернете бизнес